Dinner playlist assistance.

[BossmanKaraokeDisco]

Hi All
Just looking through my playlist requests and I have a dinner/presentation night coming up that the organiser has been very particular with her playlist request. Have just about sorted the main part of the night but I am struggling with compiling a 3 hour set for while they are arriving and then sat eating.
The music she has said she wants is: Glen Miller, Big Band sounds, Fats Domino and Michael Buble and thats all. Starting looking through my collection and I am just not comfortable doing a 3 hour set of just this.
Any of you guys experienced something like this and could give me some pointers, normally I would have a mixture of soul/motown but she does not want this as I have already run through things at the pre-event meeting.
This could be a yearly event and is a very good paying gig so I really want to keep her and her guests happy. I said to her about wether the rest of the guests would want to listen to just these artists while they were eating and she said they had come up with these choices at the meetings to discuss organising the night.

Thanks in advance

Dave

[funkymook]

Hi All
Just looking through my playlist requests and I have a dinner/presentation night coming up that the organiser has been very particular with her playlist request. Have just about sorted the main part of the night but I am struggling with compiling a 3 hour set for while they are arriving and then sat eating.
The music she has said she wants is: Glen Miller, Big Band sounds, Fats Domino and Michael Buble and thats all. Starting looking through my collection and I am just not comfortable doing a 3 hour set of just this.
Any of you guys experienced something like this and could give me some pointers, normally I would have a mixture of soul/motown but she does not want this as I have already run through things at the pre-event meeting.
This could be a yearly event and is a very good paying gig so I really want to keep her and her guests happy. I said to her about wether the rest of the guests would want to listen to just these artists while they were eating and she said they had come up with these choices at the meetings to discuss organising the night.

Thanks in advance

Dave

If you must keep strictly to the remit then the only leeway you have is with the Big Band sounds, you could play singers like Sinatra, Anita O'Day Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald etc. who all recorded swing tunes with a big bands.

Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey amongst others are also safe plays.

I reckon once you're playing you're not going to get told to turn off any swing jazz type tunes as long as there's enough of the requested artists as well - plenty of Swing compilations available so check out a few on Amazon or iTunes to get more ideas.

[James]

What i'd do if i never knew much about a style of music, is do a bit of research on google/wikipedia

So for instance .....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Miller_discography

Then look at the artists that influenced him, look at his back catalogue, his best of compilations etc.

Any other names he's linked with that you come across, do the same for them, you'll find you'll build yourself up a little playlist in no-time by searching youtube for them and listening to the tracks/artists.

3 hours is only (based on 4 minutes a track) what.....60 songs? you're probably halfway there already with a best of michael buble (can't stand him) and a best of glenn miller compilation.

Check out humphry lytleton & count basie and bang a couple of their tracks in your set.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

My Buble collection would cover at least 5 hours!

Ask her what she means by Big Band sounds - does she mean Ted Heath or more rat pack Sinatra/Sammy Davis etc

A couple of Buble albums, Glen Miller's greatest hits, Fats Domino's greatest, a few swing numbers from Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, Harry Connick Jr and if she does mean big band in the true sense, then Ted Heath, Tommy Dorsey and look our for Quincey Jones - Swinging the big band. Add in some Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennet and you're sorted!

[paulg]

For the big bands, buy the BBC big band collection. It has modern recordings of the big band sound rather than the rather crackly old original recordings by Glen Miller, Count Basie and so on. I used to play in a dance band (tenor sax / clarinet) and you can do a good 2 hours of classic big band sounds that most people will recognise.

[Corabar Steve]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned the Brian Setzer Orchestra yet!

[ian8limelight]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned the Brian Setzer Orchestra yet!

I was waiting for you to :zip:

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I didn't want to steal your thunder.

[ian8limelight]

I didn't want to steal your thunder.

Wasn't that a Leo Sayer track :daft: :cool:

[Excalibur]

And don't discount Victor Silvester, Joe Loss, and Geoff Love. While they're more MOR than some of the others, there is still a lot of suitable stuff from them.

http://www.7digital.com/artists/victor-silvester/the-very-best-of-victor-silvester/

http://www.7digital.com/artists/geoff-love-his-orchestra/temptation/

http://www.7digital.com/artists/joe-loss-his-orchestra/swing-1/

http://www.7digital.com/artists/joe-loss-his-orchestra/in-the-mood-25-dance-band-greats-1/

[funkymook]

I didn't want to steal your thunder.


Wasn't that a Leo Sayer track :daft: :cool:

Or Georgie Fame!

[BossmanKaraokeDisco]

Ok thanks guys, given me more to think about, just could not get my head around having that type of music playing for 3 hours, but will have a good play around and sort something out for them, a few extra ideas there

Thanks
Dave

[Excalibur]

Ok thanks guys, given me more to think about, just could not get my head around having that type of music playing for 3 hours, but will have a good play around and sort something out for them, a few extra ideas there

Thanks
Dave

It does at first glance seem quite a long time. ;) I'd guess that say the first hour will pass with organisation and arrangement. If part way through the second hour, the natives appear to be becoming restless, perhaps look at slipping in more of the vocal tracks available, eg Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and one of the ones I'd reach for if I had to play a long set of that style, Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

[BossmanKaraokeDisco]

It does at first glance seem quite a long time. ;) I'd guess that say the first hour will pass with organisation and arrangement. If part way through the second hour, the natives appear to be becoming restless, perhaps look at slipping in more of the vocal tracks available, eg Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and one of the ones I'd reach for if I had to play a long set of that style, Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

I think they could get restless but the remit is what she says and as we all know "the customer is always right" I have looked and I am planning bringing more vocal tracks in the second half and some of the better known Buble.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

It won't have to be 'better known' Buble - it's background music, not music they won't get up and dance to if they don't know it.

[yourdj]

Sounds pretty standard IMO.

Any big band mix albumn would cover it (king cole, Darren, Sinatra ....) with some modern renditions from the likes of buble, westlife, robbie, cullum .......

Just stick on an itunes playlist and bobs your uncle.